


Listening

by Peachengineer



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: ?? i think, And the things theyve gone through while she wasnt there, Gen, Lup thinks about her family, Mention of improper injury recovery, Mostly train of thought, Post-Episode: e067-069 Story and Song Parts 1-3, Shes worried about taako, Taakos legs never quite healed right after wonderland, Very little diologue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:48:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27242941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peachengineer/pseuds/Peachengineer
Summary: Its not always easy to see. Taako's gotten good at hiding. He's mastered the glamor, he's mastered the fake confidence. But he had always been a bad liar before. And Lup was an expert at seeing the real Taako through the cracks.
Relationships: Lup & Taako (The Adventure Zone)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 30





	Listening

Its not always easy to see. Taako's gotten good at hiding. He's mastered the glamor, he's mastered the fake confidence. But he had always been a bad liar before. And Lup was an expert at seeing the real Taako through the cracks. 

Lup hasn't heard Taakos' story of wonderland. Shes heard Barry, Merle, and Magnus' retelling of it. She's cried with Barry about how it hurt to have to stand back and watch them suffer at the hands of his relic. She's listened as Magnus told her he left there with a lot missing, even after he got his body back there was something he couldn't quite place.

She talked with Merle about how he was content with his choices, the forsaking, the taking the extra punishments, the lost memory of his axe lessons as a boy. 

But when she tried to broach the topic with Taako, hed just shrug it off. He made it through ok. He lost some of his ability but he's still a badass wizard. She never pushed. 

Before she got her body back, Lup spent a majority of her time helping the clean up and funeral efforts. But what free time they did have she spent getting the others' stories of the ten years they were commoners in Faerun. 

She listened to lucretia talk about a lovely scientist and her son. She understood the pain and weight Lucretia carried. She had felt it too before. She wiped lucretia's tears when she recounted the guilt she felt. She said things would get better. They could start to heal. It wasnt ok, but it might be someday. 

She sat with davenport and helped him relearn basic functions. After the adrenaline of the fight wore off, the affects of being mostly silent for 10 years really kicked in. Davenport's stutter was worse than ever and she sat and let him get used to talking, having real two way conversations. Davenport taught her how to play merle edition eucher, something she had put off for 56 years. 

She used mage-hand to hold Barrys hand as he recounted his years, searching desperately for her. He told her how he begged Taako to kill him when he realized the static was setting in. She cried with him when he told her he was hunted the whole time, defying death laws to reincarnate every 12 months just to restart and forget everything and search for any lead anywhere.

Lup sat in awe as she saw Merle interact with his kids. She wondered how that even came to be, sure she felt like he was an honorary dad, but she had thought genuine fatherhood was off the table for him. She came to understand that merles big heart had fallen in love with Heccuba, at least temporarily. When she had Mavis he had helped deliver. He helped Heccuba adjust to being a parent, and the duo became a trio, then a quartet with little ?Mookie. Then the insecurity set in and Merle got scared. And he left. Lup told him hes gonna do so well, he's better than any parent she had ever was, he came back.

Lup flipped through the few picture Magnus had of Julia and listened to his stories. She could almost feel the warmth of the Waxmen household as Magnus described it with such loving detail. She listened in awe as magnus told her the story of how they beat the corrupt govenor and sent him running. She asked if hes still out there, and Magnus' face went blank, for just a bit before he continues about Julia, as if lup hadnt spoken. She decided thats something best not approached just yet. 

But with Taako? She got nothing. He'd say he had a traveling show for a while. He made a mistake. Had to lay low. Got a job with the dildo squad. 

Lups not stupid. And once she got her body back she could make out everything so much clearer. She saw the way taako leaned on his new "fashion" staff a little heavier at the end of the day than in the beginning. She felt the way he always seemed to have some sort of illusion magic around him. She saw the way he avoided the kitchen. 

She would try to engage, she would call him into the kitchen to have him help cook. And he would. He would chop the veggies, stir the sauce, put the tray in the oven. But he left as soon as possible. He'd make an excuse to leave it to her. 

She was devastated. The kitchen had always been their place, the place they thrived, especially him. Taako was a bitchin wizard, but he was an even better chef.

The worst day came about six months after the story and song. Lup was planning a big family meal -minus Lucretia. Davenport, Taako, and Barry weren't ready for that yet-. Pulled out all the stops, the appetizers, the mains, the deserts. She couldn't juggle it all, so she called in Taako to help. He did, he did his best and carried out what he could. But she had to mage hand the rest out. 

She saw Taako freeze. And she heard him ask "Did... You use magic while making the food?". And she laughed. Of course, magic is a helper, magehand is harmless and helps get things she cant quite reach. Taako went pale. He looked over all the food and crossed his arms over his stomach and stood stick still, except for his ears, twitching like she had never seen before.

She was about to say something when a certain boy detective walks into the room. She looks at him and watches as he instantly figures out whatver problem shes not seeing. Little man pulls out a salt shaker and goes over to hand it to Taako. He immediatley takes it and shakes a dash over each dish. Shes almost yells, they're all salted perfectly!! But taako relaxes and drops into his seat, thanking the boy and handing back the shaker.

She doesn't have the time to ask what that was, because the others walk in, taking their seats. 

Dinner goes well. Lup keeps her eye on taako. Hes still pale but a quiet word from Kravitz seems to help him relax that last bit he needs. And Hes bantering with Merle and Magnus as always.

Lup decides its time to push. After everyone files to their room, she finds Taako sitting with Davenport on the porch, theyre not saying anything. Just studying the stars. She sits with them. Lup and Taako had both gotten close to davenport over the 100 years. But Taako just a tad bit more. His science interest had been in the stars, and hers had been the physical tangible world. He had been able to bond with Davenport studying the skies many a cycle. 

They stay out for quite a while before Davenport hops up to head off to bed, giving giving Lup and Taako a hug each. Left alone, they sit in silence for a while. The wind gentle rocking their chair. Taako eventually speaks up "I'm wearing a glamor."

She looks over, she wasnt expecting that topic to be the one broached tonight but, it was progress "I figured.." She watches as he drops the concentration. Its not a drastic difference but its there. His hair is a little less shiny, his eye bags more prominent, his lip less full. He looks so tired.

He sighs and leans forward, resting his hands and chin on his staff "Its not just on my face.. Its covering my legs too.. I.. Got pretry badly fucked in wonderland. I know I got my flips taken away. I don't walk as well as I used to.. I get tired. The cold sucks, it aches.. Especially on this dumb planet with it's single sun. Things never healed right.. Merle's tried but.. Necromantic damage always leaves a mark.. And this ones just bad." he sighs exhaperatedly, closing his eyes "and I’m- different. They took some of my looks too."

Lup nods "Yeah- I saw after you showed Kravitz but I didnt get a good look.. You look mostly the same I think." 

Taako laughs "I guess.. Its.. Basically the same. The same bones, the same skin-but I'm- I dont look like you anymore.. I'm TEN YEARS older than you Lup.. Your body is from a dna sample of a kiss mark you left twelve years ago.." 

And she pauses, she hadn't thought about it. She hadnt thought that would be something he’d care about. Age is such a small thing for elves. But she understood how a mind can cling to any insecurity at all and make it so much bigger than it is. She reaches out to take Taako's hand, squeezing gently "you'll always be my twin Taako. Even when you're dead and im 2000 years old visiting you in the astral plane you'll still be my twin" and she smiles a bit while he chuckles, leaning against her. She lets go of his hand, wrapping her arm around him instead. 

Lup kisses his forehead "no matter what you look like you'll always be my heart, Taako". She rubs his arm gently, humming a tune from their home planet and sways with him in the chair. She decides she wont need to push at all, Taako's always been slow to open up, he'll talk when he's ready. And she'll be there to support him.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!! This is my first work I'm posting publicly, let me know what you think, let me know if there's any errors. I do not have an editor and I am too nervous to actually get one :)
> 
> Thank you for reading <3


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